"There is no emphasis placed on a child's social development"

All Montessori's are different; there is no overseeing body to accredit programs calling themselves Montessori (at least not in Canada). There are affiliate organizations such as AMI and NAMC, but it they aren't regulators with authority to certify programs.

This is another way myths pop up - as anybody can call their program "Montessori", and run it based on a range of their own understanding of the Method (from very little, to a lot). And even with the more formal Montessori's (like us), there are so many ways Dr. Montessori's Method can be utilized.

So, we will be answering these common misconceptions based on how OUR program runs, and based on how we have merged the Montessori Method with DAP for the development of the Whole Child.

I consider myself both an ECE and a Montessorian, and my team and I have created our programming to be inclusive to BOTH The Method and DAP, because we found so much commonality and shared styles between the two. And when merged properly, it creates an ideal learning environment for the preschool child.

Reading through the books written by Dr. Montessori, we believe she would be in support of this. All Montessori's have social skills development in their curriculum to varying levels. Some ways are: small group work, peer learning, and large group times.

However, we believed as ECE's we could take this one step further. So we have found a balance between ensuring a calm, quiet peaceful environment (which allows students to concentrate on their work) and allowing true socialization skills, so students are able to practice all of the key socio-emotional milestones gained through Parallel, Cooperative, and Constructive Play.

Students chose respectfully quiet voices during the work period, so that their peers are not distracted on their own lessons, while they are engaging in these social activities.

We ensure all students receive a balance between the independent lessons and learning with peers; to ensure they receive the time to gain these crucial socio-emotional skills developments! So, yes! We place a LARGE emphasis on social development at SJMS!!